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Improving capability assessments for disaster risk management

Lindbom, Hanna LU (2020)
Abstract
There is an urgent need for society to find more effective ways to reduce the impact of disastrous events. One way is to proactively increase actors’ response capability. Capability assessments play an essential role in these disaster risk management efforts. Currently, capability is assessed using indicator and index methods that focus on available resources. Such methods may not provide the best guidance to decision-makers when selecting measures to increase capability. The reason for this is that they do not explicitly relate capability to the impact of disasters. Therefore, in an attempt to improve capability assessments, this research proposes a new definition and description of capability. The new definition is tested in several... (More)
There is an urgent need for society to find more effective ways to reduce the impact of disastrous events. One way is to proactively increase actors’ response capability. Capability assessments play an essential role in these disaster risk management efforts. Currently, capability is assessed using indicator and index methods that focus on available resources. Such methods may not provide the best guidance to decision-makers when selecting measures to increase capability. The reason for this is that they do not explicitly relate capability to the impact of disasters. Therefore, in an attempt to improve capability assessments, this research proposes a new definition and description of capability. The new definition is tested in several experimental studies, to investigate whether further work on the topic is warranted. The results suggest that the proposed approach provides better guidance to decision-makers who are seeking to proactively increase the response capability. These initial results suggest that additional research to extend this view of capability is warranted. Overall, this research provides a better understanding of the current use of capability assessments, and clarifies their potential role in disaster risk management. The proposed definition may be useful in this context, as current practice seems to encourage compliance and complacency among actors tasked with assessing capability. Such behaviour could hinder efforts that aim to reduce losses from disasters. (Less)
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author
supervisor
opponent
  • Prof. Nyberg, Lars., Karlstad University, Sweden.
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
disaster risk management (DRM), societal safety, capability assessment, response, decision-making, control
pages
63 pages
publisher
Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University
defense location
Lecture hall V:V, building V, John Ericssons väg 1, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund.
defense date
2020-01-31 10:15:00
ISBN
978-91-7895-291-5
978-91-7895-290-8
project
PRIVAD - Program for Risk and Vulnerability Analysis Development
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b31abdce-8185-472f-9904-783a173c1c7b
date added to LUP
2019-11-28 15:21:24
date last changed
2019-12-18 07:48:48
@phdthesis{b31abdce-8185-472f-9904-783a173c1c7b,
  abstract     = {{There is an urgent need for society to find more effective ways to reduce the impact of disastrous events. One way is to proactively increase actors’ response capability. Capability assessments play an essential role in these disaster risk management efforts. Currently, capability is assessed using indicator and index methods that focus on available resources. Such methods may not provide the best guidance to decision-makers when selecting measures to increase capability. The reason for this is that they do not explicitly relate capability to the impact of disasters. Therefore, in an attempt to improve capability assessments, this research proposes a new definition and description of capability. The new definition is tested in several experimental studies, to investigate whether further work on the topic is warranted. The results suggest that the proposed approach provides better guidance to decision-makers who are seeking to proactively increase the response capability. These initial results suggest that additional research to extend this view of capability is warranted. Overall, this research provides a better understanding of the current use of capability assessments, and clarifies their potential role in disaster risk management. The proposed definition may be useful in this context, as current practice seems to encourage compliance and complacency among actors tasked with assessing capability. Such behaviour could hinder efforts that aim to reduce losses from disasters.}},
  author       = {{Lindbom, Hanna}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-7895-291-5}},
  keywords     = {{disaster risk management (DRM); societal safety; capability assessment; response; decision-making; control}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Improving capability assessments for disaster risk management}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/72535297/Improving_capability_assessments_for_disaster_risk_management_without_papers_.pdf}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}